Asia

Home page

Asia

Thai Cabinet to Decide Bout Extradition Case

07 October 2010 03:35 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Thailandâ€™s prime minister says he will meet with his full cabinet after court proceedings are finished to decide whether suspected Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout should be extradited to the United States, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.
Speaking to Thai reporters after an Asia-Europe summit in Brussels, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that, in making the decision, the cabinet would try to minimize the damage to the countryâ€™s relations with the United States and Russia.
A Thai court on Tuesday dropped money laundering and wire fraud charges against Bout, who has been nicknamed the â€œMerchant of Death.â€ That appeared to clear the way for an earlier extradition order to be carried out as early as Friday.
However, Boutâ€™s lawyers still are seeking ways to delay the extradition, and Mr. Abhisit was quoted by the Bangkok newspaper The Nation saying he would wait to see what happens.
The extradition order expires on November 20.
Mr. Abhisit spoke after meeting in Brussels with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He said Lavrov was â€œnot satisfiedâ€ with the handling of the case so far.
The prime minister also said he regretted that Thailand has been placed in such a â€œdifficult position,â€ with the United States and Russia pressing strongly for opposite outcomes in the case.
The 43-year-old Bout was arrested in a U.S.-led sting operation in March of 2008. The United States wants to try him on charges of offering to sell sophisticated weapons to Colombiaâ€™s FARC rebels, including surface-to-air missile and anti-tank weapons.
Bout insists he is an innocent businessman who has never dealt in arms.